There's no set timetable for Sanchez's return. His left knee will be immobilized until Monday, when he'll begin the rehabilitation process. It's unclear whether he'll be ready to play in the Trojans' season opener Aug. 30 at Virginia.

"You hear about people coming back in a short period of time and a long period of time," Sanchez said. "Hopefully, I'm closer to the short end. I'll work to get there.

"I'm trying to get back quickly in the fastest way possible."

Sanchez suffered the injury without contact prior to stretching with the team. He threw a pass to senior Clay Matthews, like he'd done every other practice.

"It was a good way to end practice," Hazelton said. "You could see they got into more of a rhythm and made some big plays."

The team handled the injury with considerable ease.

"I don't think it really does much to us," Hazelton said. "We love Mark to death, but we have to move on. We can't sit around pouting about it."

The group didn't, largely thanks to the quarterbacks' response to Sanchez's accident.

"It's an extraordinary moment and opportunity for these other quarterbacks. We're young no matter how we look at it," Carroll said. "We're so lucky to have guys like Mitch and Aaron who are ready to jump in and take their shots at this thing until Mark's back.

"They're here to play."

While they still have a shot at first-team reps, Sanchez is focused on getting back and taking control of the offense - a thought that had to be far from his mind hours earlier.

"The way they said things like this can happen, it could be a lot worse," he said. "I'm happy about it.